US stocks kick off fourth quarter on mixed note

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indices on the US stock market opened mixed on Friday to start the fourth quarter of 2021 as high inflation remains a major concern for investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 205 points, or 0.6%, to 34,050 at 9.59 a.m. EDT. The S&P 500 rose 10 points, or 0.24%, to 4,317.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, on the other hand, was down 30 points, or 0.2%, to 14,420 at the time.

High inflation remains to be the biggest risk in the markets.

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation indicator, increased 0.4% in August, the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced earlier.

Core PCE index, excluding food and energy, rose 0.3% from the previous month. Year-on-year, they were up 4.3% and 3.6%, respectively.

The US indices are trying to recover from major losses earlier this week as the Federal Reserve prepares tapering, the process of scaling back its $120 billion worth of monthly bond purchases, in November or latest by December.

The central bank also expects its first interest rate increase would come in late 2022, while it projects four rate hikes in 2023.

With those expectations, the US dollar index climbed earlier to as high as 94.50 – its highest level since September 2020, but it fell to 94.03 on Friday.

After climbing above 1.5%, its highest level since this June, the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was down 2.5% to %1.489.

The VIX volatility index also decreased 2.5% to 22.57 at the time.

Precious metals have continued their increase with gold adding 0.1% to $1,758 per ounce, and silver jumping 1.3% to $22.46 an ounce.

Oil prices were on the rise to retest their three-year highs with Brent crude trading at $78.65 per barrel with a 0.4% gain, and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude was at $75.20 – a 0.2% increase.